It's playoff time on the PGA Tour. 

Don't get excited for an NCAA Tournament, single-elimination, style contest though. This playoffs is spread out over the next month and it's based on a points system average golf fans most likely don't understand. 

But, that's not the point. All you need to know is whoever has the most points after the TOUR Championship in September is the winner. Follow the tournaments, check the points, done deal. I'm warning you now to not delve deep into the details of how everything is scored or how one goes about winning this. 

Take it at face value. 

That's something I didn't do the previous two years. The first year I wrote for this blog I went on a tirade about how awful the playoff was and how the scoring was too contrite to make any amount of logical sense. With a few tweaks, I ended up liking it last year, but put myself too far in the red trying to predict everything and figure out who would win based on the scoring. 

Now, I'm just along for the ride. Most points wins... now lets tee it up. 

The Barclays is already under way and the featured pairing of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy (and Zach Johnson, but really, who paid attention to him?) and Woods came out victorious 68-69. That's a good first day for Tiger and I'm sure it felt good to him to be able to get some bragging rights over Rory for even a day. 

Mickelson even returned to form on Thursday, shooting a 68. He expects low rounds throughout the tournament and if he plays like he did Thursday, he'll get his wish. 

These tournaments have Ryder Cup implications this year, which makes them even more compelling. When there is no Ryder Cup to look forward to during these tournaments, they have a way of getting a little stale, but there are implications for some golfers (Padraig Harrington at the top of that list) to play well in order to make the team. 

I have a good feeling about McIlroy this week, as well as Dustin Johnson (defending Barclays champ) and Sergio Garcia. That's as far as I'm going with picks in this opening round. I'll pick up a more definitive tone next week and in future tournaments. 

Until then, just watch, enjoy, and don't dig too deep. You might not like what you find. 

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